Capture NX2...thoughts ?

Lord Carson

Lord Carson

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Name
Paul
Edit My Images
Yes
Anyone tried it or use it as a sole processing software ?

I am tempted to try it as an alternative to Elements which I have never really got a grasp of :( . What'ya think ?
 
I use it for all my photo fiddling, and find it easy to use. There are a few tutorials on uTube. It does what it says on the can so to speak .

To answer your question it is my prime raw photo software , although it will not do everything such as say Photoshop but a hell of a lot cheaper.

Over the years I've tried them all but for Nikon cameras this is more than good enough.

I use the whole Nikon suite as it seams together well.

*edit* the trial used to last sixty days as I recall.
 
I use Capture NX to convert my Nikon files, and use it for tweaking the raw files, the control point system is good, but I find the other features hard to use and quite coarse in their effect so I save a tiff file and do any other work in photoshop.
Have you tried a how-to book on elements? they are a lot easier to understand than the help files in the programme.
 
Slow and quirky to use compared to Adobe but it produces the best and cleanest images of virtually any developer.
 
I use it all the time.
It reads all the camera settings and uses those when you open a picture.
If you shoot raw and have got the settings right in camera it's great. If they need changing it's easy to do.
Control points work well and allow easy local changes.

However there is no clone tool and the heal brush is a little quirky at times.
 
I like it, I've used it as a trial version for the past month or so and am happy to use it. some features are very easy to use and a few fiddly but overal I've found it to be quite user friendly

There's a 60 day version to have a go you can download to give it a whirl for free. No harm in trying
 
Thanks all for your opinions. I have had a wee try with it and it seems very user friendly. Time to explore a bit deeper now . Some of the online tutorials are very helpful
 
Another thumbs up from me.

I might be corrected on this but i find adobe products reproduce the colours of NEF files slightly differently from capture nx2. (and i dont just mean its ability to read the in camera settings). Maybe someone on here could tell me if this is true or if I am mistaken. But the colours appear better with nx2.

I do find myself having to shift over to cs3 quite a lot though for the improved cloning tools, as previously mentioned and im not convinced about the noise reduction software within nx2 either when compared with adobe's. but maybe that is just a personal preference. overall though i think it is great and use it 90% of the time.
 
One of the best bits is it reads the Picture Control Settings, so what ever you have set it up to be in camera, NX will open the RAW file with those settings intact, unlike Ps.
 
Anyone else find it really slow to render previews whenever you move a slider? My laptop seems to struggle with it, but runs Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.6 without too much trouble. :suspect:

Found the user interface poor too. :thumbsdown:
 
Jim B said:
Anyone else find it really slow to render previews whenever you move a slider? My laptop seems to struggle with it, but runs Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.6 without too much trouble. :suspect:

Found the user interface poor too. :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

It can be slow.

One way to speed it up is to increase the cache size Click Edit \ Preferences \ Cache settings. It is 2GB by default, I use 15GB.

Use the Develop pane for
White Balance
Picture Control
Exp Comp
Highlight Protection
Shadow Protection
Colour Moiré Reduction
Image Dust Off
Vignette Control

However it is quicker to use the Edit pane for
Noise Reduction
Curves
Contrast
Saturation
Red-Eye Reduction
 
burrachaga said:
Another thumbs up from me.

I might be corrected on this but i find adobe products reproduce the colours of NEF files slightly differently from capture nx2. (and i dont just mean its ability to read the in camera settings). Maybe someone on here could tell me if this is true or if I am mistaken. But the colours appear better with nx2.

I do find myself having to shift over to cs3 quite a lot though for the improved cloning tools, as previously mentioned and im not convinced about the noise reduction software within nx2 either when compared with adobe's. but maybe that is just a personal preference. overall though i think it is great and use it 90% of the time.
Click to expand...


You *might* be viewing ADOBE RGB in NX2 and SRGB in Photoshop? This causes the saturation to appear to take a hit....


If you are comparing RAW vs RAW, then obviously, Capture NX 2 will appear COMPLETELY different to Adobe Camera Raw esp with fairly ramped up in camera processing....

RE the interface, second nature to me now. I can do things much quicker in NX compared to ACR. Remember its not really a photo manipulation tool in the sense that photoshop is. Think of it as a way of getting the most out of your raw files in terms of exposure, colours, sharpness etc - and then, transfer it to Photoshop (using the OPEN WITH COMMAND), and refine your TIF file.

It's an excellent way to work IMO.

G.
 
I've just moved from LR2 to the Nikon suite (Transfer, ViexNX and NX2). No complaints from me. I find NX2 conversions from raw much 'cleaner' and 'crisper' than LR2, with a nicer colour rendition, and like the fact that it uses the in camera settings. Can be a little slow but now I've got used to it, it doesn't bother me.
 
Could anyone proficient in NX2 help me trying to improve a photo in NX2 please?

In particular adjustment to ambient and noise.

regards

TaffyTim
 
As daft as it sounds, I've only just realised any changes made in Picture Control only work if I use Capture NX as the .NEF converter. With this in mind I'm thinking of buying the programme.

Will I need anything else, does the programme download from my Nikon as Lightroom and Bridge will?

I'm currently using Lightroom and CS4 for PP on my images. Any help or advice would be most welcome.
 
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